Clifford Clark

Clifford Wayne Clark started his life on October 5, 1953 at the Naval Base in Phoenix Arizona. His childhood was spent in California at the home on Lucien Way in Hayward and later moving to Castro Valley. He started school when he was 4 years old. He attended John Muir in Hayward and High School at Castro Valley High. He moved back and forth between California and Kansas but always seemed to find his way back to California at one time or another. He loved cars at an early age and was often found “driving” anything with wheels, usually by turning the truck or trike on its side using the wheels as the steering wheel. He loved working on old cars sometimes taking them apart down to the frame making sure everything was scraped and painted to its original state. Two of Cliff’s uncles drove 18 wheelers, so he lived a little boy dream of riding in those big trucks and when he was old enough, he started driving too. He drove for almost 20 years hauling wheat, livestock, fuel, lumber, acid and trucked to all 48 states and Canada. Cliff married Benja Woellhof May 1, 1976 and they had 5 children. They divorced in 2003. Their oldest, Rebecca was 6 weeks old the first time she took a trip to Nebraska and started walking when she was 10 months old after being cooped up in the truck for 3 days on the way to Maine. In 1987 he had just gone over the Bay bridge with a load of acid not realizing he was right in the middle of an earthquake. The bridge collapsed moments after he got across.
Dad knew the highways and byways across the U.S. like the back of his hand. He was always ready with travel route suggestions, the best rest stops and which diners to eat at (and how to avoid weigh stations). He was a wizard when it came to old cars. Family and friends would often call with car trouble and he’d diagnose the problem over the phone. In fact, they were still calling on his tele-diagnostic abilities two days before he passed.
Us girls fondly remember him “forcing” us to learn to drive a stick (usually a vehicle with a “3 on the tree”) before we could drive an automatic, change our own oil, change our own tires and spending time with him in his shop restoring vehicles. He didn’t want us to have to rely on others and we have all grown into fiercely independent women.
Jason says he’s blessed to have had him raise him to become the man he is today. And, that he permanently embedded right and wrong and how to be a man deep inside of him. He said, “I believe our parents don’t raise us to be like them, they raise us to be better than them. When I felt like I deserved something but hadn’t actually earned it, he always told me it’s not a right, it’s a privilege”. He’s passing these values down to his own son.
Some of Mary’s favorite memories are him saving money in a coffee can in his garage to buy her horse, road trips from California and Kansas, teaching us all the proper way to tow a car/be towed and passing on his love of old cars. She said he had her son, PJ, under cars with him when he was just two years old.
Carrie remembers his love of John Wayne and old movies. And, how he always said he “hated” animals and yet they flocked to him. She specifically remembers when they came out for a visit. I (Rebecca) had a border collie named Bobbie. She was very well trained and obedient, until she got around “grandpa”. I got on him for letting her on the couch with him and he said, “she’s not on the couch”. HE was on the couch and she was on his lap. We’re still laughing and shaking our heads about that, years later.
Sarah remembers all of the day trips to the Exploration Center, State Fair, Swap Meets, the Father’s Day car show at the Salina Refuge Center and trips to visit Aunt Lavonne. She’s going to miss his daily 5:30 pm phone calls to check in while she drove home from work. She specifically remembers a trip to California with dad, her husband Jake and kids Curtis and Cali. She said they were all piled in an ‘88 extended cab pickup with the 2 kids and only one electrical outlet and of course, still made the trip in just 26 hours.
His brother Larry remembers his sunny disposition, how he was rarely “down in the dumps” and says he was more than his brother, he was a great friend.
I have so many memories of dad but one of my favorites is when I was showing horses in college. We had a show in Wyoming and it was winter. A blizzard had moved through and roads were closed everywhere between Kansas and Wyoming. We were trying to figure out how to get the team there. I called dad and sure enough, he talked us through a route that avoided road closings and safely got us to our destination. They packed my family up on several occasions to follow my college show career. And, when I qualified for nationals in L.A., they loaded the family up and drove out from Kansas to be there and support me.
He had an ear for mechanical problems, an eye for auto body work and was truly an artist when it came to restoring old cars. He was meticulous with the restoration process. He worked hard to provide for his family, the majority of his life working full time and moonlighting on cars at night and on the weekends. Dad never knew a stranger and always took time to visit. I think he was happiest on the open road, sifting through swap meet treasures, wrenching in his shop and spending time with friends and family – especially his grandchildren. They were the apple of his eye.
Dad was preceded in death by his grandparents and his mother Joann Clark.

Survivors are his children. Rebecca (Kevin) Frerking, Washington, KS, Sarah (Jake) Whitenack, McPherson, KS, Mary (Shane) Carlgren, Stockton, CA, Carrie Clark, Castro Valley, CA, Jason (Tori) Clark, Oakdale, CA, grandchildren Curtis Landrum, Cali and Crew Whitenack, Peyten Carlgren, Jason Thomas Clark, his dad Laurence (Grace) Clark, sister Peggy (Matt) Hilburn and brothers Larry (Terri) Clark and Roger Clark. Aunts Lavonne (Lance), Delores (David), Devoda and his Uncle Johnny Vaughn

A celebration of life will be held on Saturday, May 16, 2020 in Clay Center, Ks. Get your old cars shined up, we can’t think of anything our dad would love more than to be remembered with cars and conversation. We’re planning a family style BBQ, complete details to come.

Memorials: Good Shepherd Hospice House or the McPherson College Auto Restoration Program c/o the funeral home